1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data processing and, more particularly, to systems and methods for preventing disruption of one or more system buses.
2. Description of Related Art
Master-slave systems have been in existence for years. In such systems, a master device usually controls the operation of one or more slave devices. For example, the master device might cause the slave devices to perform certain operations or functions required by the system. In some systems, the master device connects to the slave devices via one or more dedicated wires. A problem with such systems is that the number of connecting wires can become unmanageable.
In other systems, the master device connects to the slave devices via a bus. Bus systems, like these, have proven to be more efficient than their counterpart dedicated wiring systems. A concern in master-slave bus systems is what to do when the master device or the bus fails. Oftentimes, such failures can take down the entire system until the master device or bus can be replaced.
To minimize system reliance on the operation of a single master device or bus, redundant master devices and buses can be used. In this case, one master device typically acts as the system master and the other master device acts as a backup in case of failure to the system master. The master device usually communicates with the slave devices over one of the buses. If a failure occurs on this bus, the master device simply switches to communicate over the other bus.
A problem that can occur in such a redundant system is that a failing slave device might cause disruption of both buses. In this case, the entire system might be taken down until the failure can be diagnosed and the failing component(s) replaced.
As a result, there exists a need for mechanisms for preventing disruption of one or more system buses.